Krabbe, Silje Helen, Mengshoel, Anne Marit, Schrøder Bjorbækmo, Wenche et al. · Health care for women international · 2023 · DOI
This study listened to the stories of 13 young women who became severely ill with ME/CFS during their childhood or teenage years. The researchers found that these women experienced a gradual loss of their normal, active lives, felt increasingly isolated and abandoned by others, and struggled with uncertainty about their future. The study highlights how challenging and life-altering this illness can be during crucial developmental years.
This qualitative study provides critical insight into the lived experiences of young people with severe ME/CFS, highlighting the profound psychosocial impacts beyond physical symptoms. Understanding these experiences can help healthcare providers, families, and educators better support adolescents with ME/CFS and recognize the importance of addressing social isolation and abandonment in clinical care.
This study does not establish the biological mechanisms of ME/CFS, nor does it prove that psychological factors cause the illness. As a qualitative narrative study with a small sample, it describes experiences rather than measuring prevalence or testing interventions. The findings reflect these particular women's retrospective accounts and may not generalize to all ME/CFS patients or to those with milder illness.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Krabbe, Silje Helen, Mengshoel, Anne Marit, Schrøder Bjorbækmo, Wenche, Sveen, Unni, & Groven, Karen Synne (2023). Bodies in lockdown: Young women's narratives of falling severely ill with ME/CFS during childhood and adolescence.. Health care for women international. https://doi.org/10.1080/07399332.2022.2043862
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-krabbe-2023-bodies-lockdown,
author = {Krabbe, Silje Helen and Mengshoel, Anne Marit and Schrøder Bjorbækmo, Wenche and Sveen, Unni and Groven, Karen Synne},
title = {Bodies in lockdown: Young women's narratives of falling severely ill with ME/CFS during childhood and adolescence.},
journal = {Health care for women international},
year = {2023},
doi = {10.1080/07399332.2022.2043862},
note = {PubMed: 35404768},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/krabbe-2023-bodies-lockdown},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-28. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/krabbe-2023-bodies-lockdown
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